.: Thanks to OP for this post!

Period, full-stop, no exceptions. 

This mean the interest on the full $279K would be fully deductible, right?

It will also allow you to focus more of your time and resources in the actual real estate vs. raising capital which usually leads to poor real estate acquisition and operational decisions because raising capital is your full time job leaving an inadequate amount of time for the real estate.OK, chasing 32unit apartments, acquisition priced between 3.2M - 4.8M.  

In short, I can afford the additional $1100/mo cost of a second house, even until I rent it out.I have around $35K in HYSA and emergency funds that I could use for a down payment, but that's less than 20% which would be required for a conventional loan, assuming full purchase price.

The feedback seems a bit general or maybe you just condensed it for the post...If not, I'd personally have a chat with your agent about what they are asking in those follow-up questions and hope they are assertively making those follow-up phone calls with your showings.

When I got into the STR space in 2015, I needed my daughter to be available on a full ti e basis as PM.  

Up until that point the property was solely in my name.If I decide to occupy the property after 2 years, and decide to sell the property after 5, do I owe the full deferred tax amount, or are the taxes "prorated" based on the ratio of time the property was investment/primary?

My focus is simple: helping out-of-state investors like you unlock the full potential of the Birmingham market.

Is that what you believe the full cost to add the ADU is?